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When it comes to fitness, don't neglect your core muscles

Don't forget the middle of your body when working out

Sandra Diamond Fox
| on September 4, 2014

When it comes to fitness, one of the most crucial areas of the body is often the most neglected -- the core.

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Core workoutHere are some key exercises that strengthen the core, all of which should be performed at least three times a week. The standard recommendation is to do three sets of six to 12 reps of each exercise, but experts recommended doing what's most comfortable for you. Planks: While lying on the ground, hold the core up, making sure to keep the back from sagging. Push-up: Get on the floor and on hands and toes. Hands should be a little more than shoulder width apart and the back should be straight.Single-arm shoulder press: While standing, hold a weight by the shoulder with the elbow close to the body and press the arm straight up. Then, lower the arm back down, keeping the elbow as close to the body as possible.Single arm chest press: Lying on your back, press a stability ball or a weight straight up over the chest. Hip extensor stretch: Seated off the edge of a bench or bed, let one knee dangle at a right angle while pulling the other knee to your chest. Switch legs.Lunge stretch: Step forward with the leg going into a lunge position, alternating legs.

Many fitness experts said having a strong core is key to helping people complete many day-to-day tasks, from picking up a child's toys to running up and down the stairs at your workplace. But not only do too few people work out their core, a lot of them don't even know what it is. "Most people think of their core as their `six pack'-- the area that runs down the center line of their stomach," said Scott Shapiro, owner of PinPoint Fitness, a personal training facility in Fairfield.

In reality, the core consists of most of the muscles in the torso, including the abdominal muscles (the ones that make up the so-called "six pack"), as well as those in the back, pelvis and buttocks.

A strong core is important not only to completing basic tasks, it also helps improve strength and prevent injuries, Shapiro said. "As we get older, we're more prone to injuries in our lower back and hip areas," said Shapiro, 47, a certified personal trainer. "In many cases, this is due to a lack of strength and flexibility in the region of our core."

Too often, people who do work on their core muscles do it incorrectly, said Michaela Hastings, holistic health coach and certified personal trainer living in New Milford.

"They do different types of crunches, yet what they're neglecting is the inner layers of their core," said Hastings, who owns the nutrition and exercise facility Health Coaching and Personal Training and is a certified personal trainer at New York Sports Club in Danbury.

"The main purpose of your core is to stabilize you, so when you're just crunching, you aren't strengthening your core, and you won't see benefits in your daily activities," Hastings said.

When working out at the gym, as a general rule, Hastings recommends choosing floor exercises over machines. "I'm not a fan of isolation machines because they take out all aspects of core activation," she said. "You're fixed into a spot so your body can't move naturally and your core doesn't stabilize. I tend to take people off machines. I train movements, not muscles."

Many challenging core workouts can be performed doing activities not typically thought of as exercise. For example, on the playground, go across the monkey bars. "With this movement, you are stabilizing your core to prevent yourself from swinging back and forth as you move from bar to bar," Hastings said.

House cleaning, such as scrubbing floors and vacuuming, as well as doing yard work also provide a great functional core workout.

For those with a desk job, consider substituting a standard desk chair with a stability ball, which has no back rest. To get a good core workout from the ball, "you must make sure you're engaging your core while you're sitting," Shapiro said. "You want to bend at the waist. If your desk is too low and you're slouching on the ball, you won't get any benefit from it."

An additional advantage of a strong core is good posture, Hastings said. "The core's main job is stabilization, so if you have a strong core it will keep you upright, which leads to good posture," she said. "Good posture is always important because it means the muscles of your core are activating properly. It also means there is the least amount of force on your joints so everything is in alignment. There is less of a chance of injury from every-day activities."

For about six months, as a result of taking core strengthening classes at her local fitness facility, Bethel resident Jeannine Fagan said she has noticed a huge difference in her overall physical fitness.

"When I'm at the grocery store, I can pick up heavy items, such as a case of water, much more easily than I used to," said Fagan, 44, a stay-at-home mother of three. "Also, my posture has improved. I used to tend to slouch, and I now carry myself better and stand up straighter."

She added that her stomach is now more toned and her clothes fit her better than they have in years. "Before I began working on my core, I couldn't do one push-up," Fagan said. "Now I can do close to 50."

Shapiro said sometimes, injuries can be accruing for many decades as a result of weakening and tightening of core muscles. "This can lead to conditions such as herniated disks and sciatic nerve issues," he said. "This is why it becomes more and more important to pay attention to our core to give us a better quality of life and help us function better."

Sandra Diamond Fox is a freelance writer in Connecticut and can be reached at Sandraifox@aol.com.